Food Blog Events

May 19, 2010

Whenever I gather a group of passionate cooks around this event, I am always amazed and inspired by what our participants choose to make. I'm also awed by the stunning food styling and compositions. Our latest entry in Cookbook Spotlight is Deborah Madison's gorgeous new book, Seasonal Fruit Desserts. Her Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone was a watershed addition to my collection of cookbooks - before this book, I'd never really considered how fantastic vegetarian cooking could actually be. Likewise, her latest book focuses on the luscious bounty of fruits straight from farms, orchards and fresh markets; but she doesn't stop there: she has recipes that give a nod to fruits but are not themselves fruit-based desserts. As always, I was so fortunate to have enthusiastic, imaginative and very gifted participants who produced some mouth-wateringly beautiful desserts!

Claudia at Honey from Rock lives in Hawaii (lucky!) where fresh fruit is abundant (more reason to be jealous) - but, as she notes, everything is between seasons so she made the Almond Corn Cake and dried fruits; but couldn't resist trying the Souffléed Pancakes -- batter over carmelized mangoes, which substituted in a pinch for apples that are no longer in season.

Rachel, the Crispy Cook went the same route as Claudia, electing to use dried fruit, nuts and preserves to make this beautiful Walnut Torte with Blackberry Preserves. Her blog is a lovely repository of gluten free dishes; this recipe called for potato starch and egg for the torte, along with blackberry preserves. Violets from her garden finished off this lovely cake.

Jamie's life is about her Adventures in SF - the latest of which is a broken oven which has been a nightmare of epic proportions, particularly for as avid a cook as she; but she is determined to overcome this obstacle and has already decided on a list of dishes to be made once her kitchen is back in working order. On the list, I'm particularly interested in showing up to try to the Persimmon Pudding with her...(hint, hint, Jamie!).

Deb is another lucky lady who lives in Hawaii. From her Kahakai Kitchen, she made the Yogurt Swedish Cream with Warm Berry Sauce. This wasn't her first choice: she started thinking about Right Side Up Cake before healthy choices made her consider Quinoa Pudding with dried fruit; but the warming days in Hawaii persuaded her that something "cool, smooth and creamy" was needed - and this panna cotta-like yogurt based dessert was the right way to go.

Emily at Tomato Kumato tried two recipes - simple desserts that nevertheless managed to be phenomenal with their flavor combinations, including the Pineapples with Basil Syrup. Her sister helpfully marked other recipes to try with Post-It Notes; it sounds like more testing is needed, Emily!

I love Peabody and her fabulous Culinary Concoctions. Living in Western Washington, there are plenty of farmer's markets and road stores from which to choose a plethora of fresh fruits. For this event, she decided on a tart - and in this case, the Cream Tart with Black Raspberries.

Holly is the Phe/Mom/enon. Look at this ridiculously beautiful Huckleberry Cream Tart! Why this recipe? Well, the tart dough was apparently like nothing she had ever read or heard about - processed into a thick batter that somehow coalesced into the silky tart you see before you...

So the book isn't all about fruit based desserts - and here is vivid sugary goodness for proof. Susan, Ms. Doughmesstic - made these Hazelnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies - all butter and hazelnut oil. This is perfect for those in-between weeks of waiting for the fruit season to really kick into gear...

I'm so grateful that Ivonne, Cream Puffs in Venice, never turns me down when I come running to her with the latest cookbook I'm reading through for which I must absolutely throw a Cookbook Spotlight or an Edible Word. She's as much in love with cookbooks as I am; and she never fails to astonish me with her choices. They're far more exciting than anything I'd choose to make - witness this Baked Rhubarb with Vanilla, Orange and Clove. I hope you heed the call forever Ivonne!

Steph was skeptical about the organic agenda - but even she concurs that the recipes are simple and scrumptious. See the Berry Galette she made for her in-laws - which they polished off in two days! And in a brilliant bit of synchronicity, they got a copy of Deborah's book as a gift from a family member!

A great big thank you to all the lovely and passionate participants in this round of Cookbook Spotlight!

And the winner of our giveaway book - Barbara at Winos and Foodies! Barbara, Pug drew your name from the box so he will expect a kiss when he sees you next year. :-) Thanks to everyone who submitted their names - I'll have some more books to give away soon!

October 14, 2009

Ivonne, the brilliant Cream Puff in Venice, ponders if, like Gesine, she could go off and do what she really really wants to do? If the answer looks anything like the Espresso Cheesecake and Apple Pie she made, I'd say the answer is a resounding "Yes!"

Charli, at The Berry Bushel, one of the Daring Kitchen bakers, kindly participated in our event on their behalf. She offers a lovely review and makes a batch of my favorites -- the Starry Nights cookie. She didn't just stop there: she also made the bundt version of Golden Eggs and Scones.

And to finish us off, a quick conversation with the Closet Master Baker herself about random things:

My favorite sequence in the book covers you getting tons of orders for your macaroons after the article appears in InStyle. How many orders did you get before you realized you had to shut down the online ordering?

I have an uncanny ability to block trauma from memory. I do remember
the boxes in our office, our neighbor Joanne sat in there taping together
shipping boxes for days. Buried herself in our office with cardboard.
And Ray, he'd stay until midnight just printing out the orders.
Thousands and thousands. I don't even remember the number because
they just kept coming in. I'm not sure that I shut down the site but I
did send a letter to everyone explaining why, exactly, it might take a
while to get out all the orders. For some reason, it never occurred to
me that the news of the store opening would generate online business,
just store business. I'm a moron of the first order.

You talk about the strict food lifestyle your mom dictated at home.
Did you ever openly rebel? Like in high school when we could go off
campus for lunch, did you do benders at McDonalds?

Openly?
Never. But if you looked under my bed, there'd be empty cartons of ice
cream and Skor wrappers. And in high school, Tippy's Taco House rocked
my world. I found out years later that everyone went to Tippy's
fortified with the wacky weed, except for me. The nachos were my
contraband of choice.

What is your favorite secret food indulgence, the totally embarrassing
thing you eat that you don’t like to admit you eat? (Kinda like having
the Bee Gees on your iPod and hoping no one sees them on there)

Bo Friberg's Professional Pastry Chef series. Oh, and there's this
ancient series of hard core French patisserie textbooks that, once you
decipher, they are golden. On the nightstand is a book on tiling. I'm
convinced I can tile my bathroom based on having watched a series of
bathroom renovation episodes on DIY and my ability to read directions
from beginning to end before diving in, something I learned the hard
way as a baker.

Which three chefs (living or deceased) would you love to have lunch with?

Keller, Keller & The Prince.

At any point in your Hollywood life did you become known more for your baking than your producing?

To my friends, yes. And on my last film, yes. My friend, Marc
Lawrence, had an apron made that said "Master Baker: Eat It and Beat
it."

If you were to hop a plane to Paris, where’s the first place you’re going? What’s the first meal you’d have?

Café
Marly or Deux Magots. Sitting on the porch at Café Marly with a glass
of wine and anything from prix fixe makes me happy. In the morning.
soft boiled egg with the toasted baguette dip stick and a coffee at
Deux Magots.

When you bake, what do you listen to (music, news)?

Music. Lots of it. Wall to wall. Usually alternative. Sometimes
punk but that's caused problems in the past with some excessive jumping
around. Fugazi's "waiting room" came on one day and I snapped.

Esme at Chocolate and Croissants knew these Golden Eggs were going to come out golden -- she samples as she cooks and she says the raw batter was decadent and the finished product every bit the delectable puffs of sweetness she imagined...

Jamie enjoys her Adventures in SF; she was inspired by the book -- which I had described as Gesine's love letter to her mother -- and the memory of her own mom to make a whole fish -- she also offers these lovely Red, White and Blue Cupcakes that she made for a friend's recent citizenship celebration.

Irene thinks this is the best damn cake she's ever made. And considering some of the mouth watering creations she's been posting at Confessions of a Tart, that's saying something. This Black Forest (aka Drunken Cherry Cake) was made in honor of her father's birthday -- and as a nod to Gesine's German heritage.

Susan at Dragon Musings made these Golden Eggs Cupcakesand a Golden Egg cake as well! They may taste doughnut-like warm from the oven but she says they're fantastic cold too!

A deep, heartfelt thanks to all our participants for their delicious, soul-satisfying contributions and for making our event so much fun!

July 31, 2009

The lovely hosts of Cook
the Books, Stephanie at Dispensing Happiness and I are co-hosting a new edition of The Edible Word, a foodie book club on September 5 and I'm wondering if one of you would like to join us?

What's involved? Well, a
little reading (it IS a book club), a lot of inspiration followed by some cooking or baking, and hopefully, a
lot of fun.

We're reading “Confections of a Closet Master
Baker” by Gesine Bullock-Prado, a former Hollywood
executive who flees La La Land to become a baker in Vermont. The book traces her
baking journey as it sustains her through various life trials — the
Hollywood machine; her mother’s illness; the wonky life in a sweet, odd small town.

Event rules? Simple:

Pick a dish that she mentions in the book or an ingredient that she talks about.

Find a recipe or create a recipe for that dish, pastry or ingredient, and make it! (or if you like, make one of the yummy recipes she's included in the book)

Post
an entry with a picture to your blog and share with us what compelled
you to pick that particular dish, and any history about the recipe you
created or are using to make that dish.

I have an extra book to share, so if you would like to join this food blogging event, please send me an
email at ablithepalate (AT) gmail (DOT) com with your snail mail
address by noon EST on Wednesday, August 5 and I’ll have Hoss randomly
select one person to join us. If you don’t have a food blog but would
like to participate, I’ll be happy to post your blog entry here.

April 23, 2009

Stephanie
and I initially bonded over brunch and we've been lucky enough to meet
at least once a year over the last few -- always over brunch, so when relaunching Cookbook Spotlight, it wasn't hard to persuade us to
begin with Gale Gand's new book: Gale Gand's Brunch. Featuring 100 recipes encompassing drinks, sweet and savory dishes, it also wasn't hard to round up twenty-five friends to join us in a collaborative cooking exercise. I'm always intrigued by what different foodies will choose to make when presented with the same book; and I'm always thrilled with the results. Our planned event on April 17 was delayed due to a snafu in mailing but everyone was more than patient. As one participant wrote, "I heart Gale Gand." And another said, "I loooooooooooooooove brunch," a sentiment echoed across the board.

Thank you to everyone who participated!

Gesine is my favorite macaroon maker at Confections of a (Closet) Master Baker. I have no idea how she has time to blog in the midst of baking, writing and starting new businesses but thank God she does -- it makes for some hilarious and mouth watering reading. Her contribution is Angel Food Muffins - in which she makes an effort to confront long standing demons with angel food...

Sara at I like to Cook says brunch is the best meal -- and no wonder when she's putting Coddled Eggs, Caramelized Apple Crepes and Homemade Pork and Maple Sausage Patties on the table. I have to try the coddled eggs soon; I've failed at the last five attempts to make soft boiled eggs and as Gale describes it, this is an easy alternative.

Breadchick Mary fell in love with Gale's book and wrote a Dear John letter to Waffle House. She not only made the Baked Eggs and Ham Cups but made four variations of them! And then there's the Bacon Waffle -- let's all acknowledge that few things in the world are as perfect as the savoriness of a strip of bacon -- but combined with a waffle? Mmmmmm... Mary also hosted a guest post from Sandra, one of her readers, who was one of the winners of the Invitation to Brunch.

Lizelle meets with coffee talk book group where they bring indulgently delicious treats. For this gathering, she brought Ginger Scones.

Jamie lives her Adventures in SF and decided to make the super easy and super quick Pear Streusel Coffee Cake. But now she's regretting not making the huge spread and is already going through the list of all the dishes she can make...which might be good for me as I'm heading out there in a couple of weeks and it would be so nice to be the recipient of her brunch largesse...

Jen at Use Real Butter says she's not a breakfast kind of gal, going for years without it because lunch was always more interesting. Still, she decided to expand her repertoire and made a beautiful Herbed Mini Popovers. I think it might be possible to convert her...

Tanna at My Kitchen in Half Cups went straight for the cover recipe and made the Baked Eggs in Ham Cup, but followed that with the Chai Tea and the French Bread. She's planning to cook her way through the book and I'm planning to see what she makes next.

Becke, our Columbus Foodie, was one of the Invitation to Brunch winners. She made the Torta Rustica and has me sold on trying this recipe too -- look at those gorgeous layers of pastry, eggs, cheese, and vegetables.

Heather, aka girliechef, was one of our winners for the Invitation to Brunch. Like all of us, she had a tough time picking a dish to make but settled on something even better: comfort! She made a White Hot Chocolate that the entire family loved (and there was enough left over to have over a book).

Irene at Confessions of a Tart says to give her brunch over flowers any day and is looking forward to more Sundays, Saturdays and even Mondays for brunches to come; she made a perfect Crepe with her own cinnamon apple filling.

Jasmine of the fragrant Cardamom Addict made three dishes, Baked Eggs in Ham Cups, the Torta Rustica, and this Cranberry Almond Granola. She offers her own take on the granola and is pretty certain that once you've had Gale's recipe for hot cocoa with brown sugar, you won't bother with Swiss Miss again...

Ivonne, my very favorite Cream Puff in Venice waited until Sunday to make her dishes because, as she notes, Sunday is the "king of brunch." She presents Buttermilk Pancakes, Cranberry-Almond Granola and Pear Streusel Quick Coffee Cake. As always is the case with Ivonne, everything looks effortless and elegant -- not to mention delicious!

April 19, 2009

Years ago Hani and I were driving our parents' friends back to their home in Georgetown. We were enjoying our time with Mark and Anne, whom we had not seen in some time. Long time friends of our parents, we were enjoying our conversation with them.

Hani suggested meeting for brunch and Anne should her head. "Let's do breakfast or lunch, dear," she said. "I don't like brunch."

I think it's possible that Anne was the only person I've ever known who didn't love brunch. As meals go, it's my favorite. Straddling the informality of breakfast and the more organized lunch, brunch is such a lovely amalgamation of both, allowing for multiple dishes and leisurely eating.

Stephanie
and I initially bonded over brunch and we've been lucky enough to meet
at least once a year over the last few -- always over brunch, so
in relaunching Cookbook Spotlight, it wasn't hard to persuade us to
begin with Gale Gand's delicious new book: Gale Gand's Brunchfeaturing 100 recipes encompassing drinks, sweet and savory dishes, bakery items, salads, side and condiments.

When it comes to brunch, I'm much more partial to sweet - so for a friend's' visit this past weekend, we made buttermilk pancakes and crepes.

My preferred recipe for pancakes is Marcus Wareing's; but those airy, delectable pancakes require a little more work, incorporating wet ingredients with dry, and the addition of beaten egg whites. I was quite pleased to find that Gale's recipe is fast, easy and just as delicious. Despite being denser, they puffed up beautifully, and the addition of melted butter on the pan, provided a wonderfully crisp edge. The buttermilk also adds a nice tanginess to the pancakes.

The crepes were less successful, but that was my fault, not Gale's; they were entirely too thick -- crepes are meant to be delicately, Kate Moss-ishly thin. The recipe is very straightforward but the trick is in quickly spreading the batter the minute it hits the pan. Apparently I'm no good at balancing Hoss on one arm and trying to swirl wafer-thin crepes with the other. Despite the slightly thicker crepe, it's hard to complain about a carb enrobing macerated strawberries with mascarpone. I'm going to have to try again, but there are other recipes I'm interested in trying first -- the egg segment is screaming my name as are the bakery items.

With so many dishes possible for this meal time, unconfined as it is to conventions dictating just eggs, cereals and pastries for breakfast and heartier dishes for lunch, I wonder, if given the time, we might have been able to convert Anne to the pleasures of brunch?

Check back soon for the roundup -- thank you to everyone who joined us!

March 24, 2009

Stephanie and I are co-hosting a new edition Cookbook Spotlight on April 17 with Gale Gand’s new book.

You may remember from the last few Cookbook Spotlights that food bloggers select recipes from the same cookbook, make the dish, and blog about it. We follow with a round up of everyone's choices and pictures. It’s always fun and interesting to me to see what different people pick to cook or bake from the same book.

I have an extra book and would like to invite one reader to participate.

If you would like to join this food blogging event, please send me an email at ablithepalate (AT) gmail (DOT) com with your snail mail address by noon EST on Friday, March 27. I’ll have Puggle randomly select one person to join us. If you don’t have a food blog but would like to participate, I’ll be happy to post your blog entry here.

July 29, 2007

I asked Ivonne about the genesis of her food blog's name, "Cream Puffs in Venice," and her dreamy description of her inspiration -- a book -- conjured up such incredible visions of the power of food in relationships and in memory that when I read through Faith Heller Willinger's new cookbook, "Adventures of an Italian Food Lover," I couldn't help but to wonder how others might be inspired by sharing meals with friends and family. So I grabbed Ivonne and said, "Let's have a food blog event and let's ask bloggers to share stories about the meals they made and shared!"

We were utterly delighted and awed by the wonderful posts that came in for our Adventures of An Italian Food Lover event.

Sherri at Braude's Bites met Geneve, on a serendipitous flight to Sydney. Geneve introduced her to the joys of blogging. Now these two friends share a lovely Sunday meal with a plate of Scquacquacio di Mare...

Barbara at Winos and Foodies reminisces about a lost friend..a bittersweet love story in oh so many ways, over the sweetness of Zia's Tiramisu

Like Faith, Chubby Hubby and his beautiful wife S. were inspired by their friendship with a chef and they share their take on his recipe for Laksa Fisherman's Pie...

Mary, aka Breadchick at The Sour Dough and her friends Weedhopper and Wife of Weedhopper (seriously, you gotta go learn more about this interesting duo) each pick a recipe to make and share, including this gorgeous Chickpea Puree with Shrimp...

Tanna at My Kitchen in Half Cups has packed this Etruscan Grape Tart (you should see a picture of the baked version!) in a basket for an overnight adventure with her friend Gorn. Where did you end up going Tanna?

Foodbeam's Fanny talks about her great grandfather Tranquillo for whom food and wine were life, love and raison d'etre. Fanny riffs on one of Faith's recipes to produce a Pesche al vino con vanilla, panna and sablé breton

Stephanie dispenses happiness from her kitchen (I know -- I've had the chance to visit that kitchen!) and tells us about Erin, the sister she chose for herself at age four, and for whom she would make a dinner including this Leek & Sausage Orzotto ...

Jennifer Jeffrey follows in Faith's culinary booksteps and shares with us the tale of her first trip to Venice.

And Nicole has the final (and some very kind) word(s) for us at Baking Bites.

To our friends and participants: thank you for sharing your stories with us!

Update:

Oh my FREAKING HEAVENS. I had these beautiful posts written up and due to some HTML coding gone mad, they got buried and never popped up in the post. I've only just now discovered the error!

RUN RUN RUN, look at this beautiful posts

Tartlette made Amaretti -- inspired by the memory of first time she had them at a restaurant whose name is now long-forgotten, but which experience still resonates

More deliciousness! The indefatigable Béa at La Tartine Gourmand makes this gorgeous walnut cake -- which makes her think about picking fresh walnuts with her mother, and about life as an expatriate...

January 28, 2007

When Jasmine at Confessions of a Cardamom Addict invited me to join in her event, A Day that Really Schmecks,
in honor of Edna Staebler, I was delighted to join. Due to a post
office problem (I never got Edna's cookbook), I wasn't able to join
part one, but Jasmine graciously held a second event for latecomers
like me. Now, until Jasmine mentioned the book, I had never heard of
Edna. Born in Ontario, Edna was a prolific author and best known for
her book, Food That Really Schmecks, recipes based on Mennonite home cooking.

The book is full of Edna commentary, a warm, folksy touch here and
there about the origin or a memory of a particular recipe. I must
confess that when I first read through the book looking for a recipe to
make for the event, I wasn't struck by anything in particular, until I
hit the cookies section. And maybe it was the particular mood I was in
but her one line comment for that most plebian of all chocolate cookie
desserts -- the Brownie -- was something of a challenge and something
of an enticement: "The best I've ever tasted." I'm deeply fond of
brownies. For Christmas my nieces sent us a box of Fat Witch Brownies and we very quickly devoured those.

Still, for an event in which the first set of participants made
desserts as delicious sounding as Coconut Cloud Cake and Maple Syrup
Cake with Soft Maple Icing, I thought I needed to try something more
complex. I eyed the tapioca pudding based on Hubby's preference for
the stuff; but nixed that seeing as how I wanted to eat what I
made too and tapioca pudding just doesn't do it for me. I dog eared
the book and circled various recipes, but I kept coming back to the
brownie recipe. And ultimately, the point of Edna's cooking is summed
up in the title -- food that really Schmecks...that is, food that
really tastes good.

And is there anything that tastes better than a warm brownie with a tall glass of cold milk?

Was Edna right? Were these the "best I've ever tasted?" Well...there's not much left in the pan. And we're out of milk.

Heaven in 30 minutes: that really Schmecks.

Jasmine will have the second round of posts on her site soon so go and see what other food bloggers chose to make from Edna's wide repertoire!

July 14, 2006

When Sara, Ali and I invited several food blogger friends to join us in our inaugural Cookbook Spotlight event, we were all curious to see what everyone would choose from Mitchell Davis's new cookbook, "Kitchen Sense," to make.

And despite initial comments about the lack of photos in the book, half the fun of the event was seeing how fellow food bloggers style and photograph their masterpieces -- so technically, the book does have pictures!

Barbara at Winos and Foodies leads off with this mouth watering Bourbon Bread and Butter Pudding - I'm sure this was the perfect warming dessert for a cold day in Auckland!

Stephanie at Dispensing Happiness let her hubby, Matt, pick the recipe -- he chose the Italian Meatballs. What is it with husbands and meatballs? In any case, Alex got to pitch in and the final result -- an Italian meatball sandwich.

As I wrote to Geneve from Geneve's Kitchen when she made this dish: carbs, carbs, carbs. How do you go wrong with a Potato Focaccia? Unfortunately I don't think there's any left for me...is there Geneve?

Alberto, of Il Forno, created the original food blog event -- Is My Blog Burning? so I was thrilled when he graciously accepted the invitation to join. Alberto told me that Southern American cuisine interests him --so no surprise that his entry is a classically Southern dish: Buttermilk Biscuits with Sausage Gravy. I think my arteries started hardening just looking at his picture...

I'm not sure Béa from La Tartine Gourmande sleeps; her output is prodigious. And thank goodness because in addition to making food all the time, her styling and photography are utterly stunning. She made not one, not two, but three recipes from the book: Strawberry Clafoutis, Cherry Clafoutis, and Asian Beef and Watercress salad.

I love reading about Chubby Hubby and his wife S.'s food adventures. CH grew up in the States and was hankering for some American favorites. S. delivered with Buttermilk Fried Chicken and Cream Gravy. I am wondering if this recipe could possibly come close to my Grandma's buttermilk fried chicken? It certainly looks like hers...

The verdict? A great book and a lot of fun. It was also amusing to discover that some bloggers tried the same recipe -- we foodies do think alike when it comes to certain recipes! Thank you to everyone who
agreed to join us and help us answer the question
-- "What happens when foodies get the same cookbook?"